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Friday, April 28, 2017

My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea (now playing at the Cedar Lee Theatre and The Nightlight Cinema)

[MY ENTIRE HIGH
SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA is now playing in Cleveland at the Cedar Lee
Theatre and in Akron at the Nightlight Cinema.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Watching movies used to be simpler before I started
reviewing them. A movie was "good" if I liked it, and "bad"
if I didn't. Now, I'm more aware that sometimes, quite frankly, I enjoy
watching trash. And sometimes, a movie may be exceptional, but it just doesn't
appeal to me. And being aware of these possibilities, I try to take them into
consideration when writing my reviews.

I mention this because, although I was personally kind of
lukewarm on MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL
SINKING INTO THE SEA, I recognize its originality and overall quality, even
if its sensibilities are too aggressively indie for my tastes, its art and
animation style too primitive and brutalist.

The film is written and directed by comics writer/artist
Dash Shaw, and the often static, hand-drawn animation feels as if it might be
more at home on the pages of a graphic novel than on a screen.

The main characters are a trio of sophomores who work for the
school paper – writers Dash (Jason Schwartzman) and Assaf (Reggie Watts), and
their editor, Verti (Maya Rudolph). Dash and Assaf are best friends, but a
budding romance between Assaf and Verti doesn't sit well with Dash. To vent his
frustrations, Dash writes a mean-spirited article about Assaf that lands him in
detention with popular girl Mary (Lena Dunhan).

While serving his sentence, Dash stumbles across evidence
that the school's principal Grimm (Thomas Jay Ryan) has forged documents making
it appear that a new addition to the school is safe enough to withstand an
earthquake. It is not, as the entire school discovers when one hits, and the
film lives up to its title. Relying on their wits, and with the help of Lunch
Lady Lorraine (Susan Sarandon), our intrepid heroes do their best to survive
the disaster and "graduate" to safety.

Obviously the whole thing is an exaggerated metaphor for how
shitty and clique-ish high school can be, and how sometimes overcoming those cliques is the only way to survive. Whether it works for one or not
largely depends on the viewer's taste for absurd metaphor. It didn't entirely
work for me, but I've no doubt that MY
ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA will strike a chord with many
viewers, and most likely go on to become a beloved cult film. My personal
rating would be about a 2 ½ out of 4 stars. But stepping outside my tastes to
assess the film on its own terms? 3 out of 4 stars.